Tag Archives: Holiday Decorating

My tip this week is to select some great tunes to get you in the mood to decorate. I’m obsessed with Songza (a free Music site) on my computer and my iPhone and I can tell you that the xmas playlists they have ARE the soundtrack to my holiday season!

If you’re like me you have had various colour phases with your tree decor… This year my goal is an Authentic Christmas and so I picked the most special ornaments at random from each of my whims from Christmas past … I also enlisted an impartial third party to hang the ornaments (my two nieces) so you can be guaranteed that anything they ever made me out of macaroni is featured front and center. It’s cool, and I like it. The only thing I would do differently is to tell them at the beginning This is NOT a race:)

This year I also opted to use my summer garden globe lights instead of my little Christmas strings. Those old Christmas ones were half burnt out anyway, and I like the slightly retro feel of the big fat bulbs.

So there it is, my happy random and big bulb Christmas tree for 2014. My nieces selected the teen pop Christmas playlist from Songza while we did this holiday decorating…I didn’t know Beiber wasn’t cool anymore. Now I’m off to get the sparkles off my face.

If you want some help making the place you live a place you love…contact me, I can help!

No matter what your style, and no matter which holiday traditions you celebrate, there are items that we cherish during special times of the year. Sometimes it’s a new shiny thing you fell in love with in a shop, and sometimes it’s an heirloom piece that you have loved forever. Either way, my holiday decoration tip #2 is to seek out that one piece of holiday happiness…just one, and put it on display. It’s kind of like a warm up for the real deal decorating but also a reminder that less is more, and that sticking to the things that matter most is what makes holiday decorating feel authentic.

This year I chose a new item, this Polish Pottery ornament I found at Homesense. It’s not expensive but it’s simple beauty and my Polish heritage drew me to it right away. I put it in a cool root bowl and just let it shine on its own. I can’t wait to hang it on the tree and hope that no wayward dog tails smack it down like last years carnage…but that’s another story…

Remember that anyone can buy a sleeve of ornament balls and decorate a tree….it’s the meaningful things that matter. Even if they don’t match your decor, even if they’re super ugly clay and macaroni blobs that were made by a child in art class. Those are the keepers. One of the sweetest stories my in laws told me about my husband was that he made a clay snake in art class when tasked with making a Christmas ornament…and so, the Christmas snake was inducted into their family traditions from that day forward. Find your snake.

Tell me about your One Thing, I’d love to hear about it!

If you want some help making the place you love a place you love…contact me, I can help!

Every holiday season I get lots of requests for holiday decoration ideas and I simply LOVE helping clients decorate their homes for the holidays. Did you know that I can help with everything from tree placement and colour choices to arranging beautiful vignettes using your existing decorations? In addition to my in home design and shopping services I also LOVE to share my tips and tricks for a beautiful holiday display…so… even if you don’t have me over for eggnog, you can still get my decorating input:)

Now, I know it has been a hot minute since Halloween so, let’s take it easy and start off slow. Remember that we are working our way up to the big enchilada and these are little steps that you can take in November to start to get in the spirit of the season…no matter which holiday you celebrate.

Let’s start now, here’s holiday Decor tip #1. Berries in a Vessel. Yep …you take some berries and put’em in someth’in. Simple Simple and beautiful. You can do this, I know you can.

Tip - I will use the berry stems for a centerpiece now and in December I stick them in the branches of my decorated tree. If the colour doesn’t match your tree ornaments a couple bursts of spray paint will do the trick.

If you want some help making the place you live a place you love…contact me, I can help!

I love this modern and rustic – totally casual and inviting table set for a feast with friends. I hope wherever you are, and whatever your holiday leanings you have a safe, stylish and happy long weekend! All the best!

A couple of years ago I decorated a Christmas tree for a charity auction and I hand flocked a bunch of balls in order to get just the right colours. Now that you have some background on just how far I will go to make a great tree you won’t be surprised to see that I just custom painted a whole whack of glass balls for a client’s gum drop themed Christmas tree. I got the idea from the super creative Krista from the Happy Housie blog. She lives up island and makes everything pretty with paint….just like me! I loved Krista’s idea so much I had to try it… and as luck would have I have a client that wanted a gum drop tree this year……here’s a pic of Krista’s Blue themed Christmas decorations…totally inspiring right!

So, first I went to Michaels with my coupon in hand and bought a few sizes of clear glass ball ornaments, I took off the metal hangers and ….wait for it…..squirted some craft paint inside. GASP! That’s it. I know you thought it would be harder.

I put my thumb over the hole and shook each one until it had good coverage and let them dry – shaking occasionally in case any paint settled in one spot. I chose these bright happy colours from my craft paints and Im pretty sure my clients will have the cutest xmas tree on the westshore. You should try it!

Here’s what mine looked like while drying – I’ll share a pic of the tree once it is up!

I have two words for you. TARGET & CLEARANCE. These chunky funky trees were painted red and green but I could see the potential and scooped them up right away. Originally, I painted them black…meh too boring … so yesterday I got out the metallic craft paints and went to town. I used antique gold, light gold and a bronze which is really more copper looking but it all works.

Decorator tip. Don’t crowd a collection. I prefer a cleaner look so even though I actually have 4 trees, it was too much on the little table I chose …so remember it is ok to break it up…display your collection in two or more places if you have enough pieces, or simply pack it away for next year. Here’s how I did it.

Like all good crafters I did thin light coats and dry brushed the paint so there were no brush strokes…the results were great. And hey, if next year my decor is purple I can do it all over again. sooo easy.

Yesterday I was busy visiting clients and giving advice on holiday decorations all over town…it was a dream! One of my stops was in Sooke to start the decoration of a cottage by the sea. It is so adorable it’s crazy…more on the cottage later. I needed to simply and tastefully decorate for xmas, choose a colour palette and theme and leave the tree for the family to do themselves. No problem.

Here’s the view…

And here’s the mantle I started with.

I chose some driftwood accessories from Homesense (The garland the star and a tree) which totaled just over $50 dollars. Everything else was already there. The colour palette mimics the colours inside and out. Natural wood, white and green.

I stood outside in the pouring rain. In Suede Boots (I almost cried) snipping cedar from the forest right outside their door and just layered it into the driftwood garland and a set of Champagne coloured LED lights. The clients had candles everywhere so I grabbed all the white ones I could find and grouped them. Smelled great!

I used accessories like old books and antique or old objects from around the cottage to create little vignettes but mostly I put things away inside the built in cupboards for a clean and simple approach to Christmas.

It was dark by the end of the day but made for a calm and oh so pretty holiday room. The family will do a charlie brown tree on their own and I left them with some ornaments and suggestion to keep the colour palette to green white and metallic. So nice.

If you want some help with your holiday decorating it’s not too late. Contact me…Of course I’ll help you, I’m nice like that.

Industrial and Christmas don’t really go together in most people’s minds. But I love to decorate with a little edge and the trend toward oversize and industrial pieces is not slowing down so I think it will be useful to try to incorporate what we’ve got in boxes in the crawl space with what is happening in design today. Who loves a challenge? I do!

Letters in Lights

You know how you love those oversize letters? Me too! Try this DIY idea. Cut some large scale letters out of cardboard and wind some lights around them and prop them up for the holidays. SO CUTE RIGHT! Click the pic for the tutorial.

If you were one of the lucky peeps who joined us down at the Trade Roots Store in October to make Subway Signs…it was soooo nice to meet you! I had a blast and since my sample signs got hi-jacked by the store (just kidding – I let them have’em) I had to make another one. This time I used a stretched canvas frame instead of the MDF just to give it a try…and I got it cheap at Winners on Clearance (like I do:)

And yes, I have started my holiday decorating…I had to. More on decorating with Industrial style for the holidays soon…

I painted the fugly clearance canvas in an off white flat paint and let it dry. I then printed the letters in the Roadway font on Sticker paper from the office supply store. Cut out the letters individually and did some minor measuring to ensure straight line placement and good spacing. Once everything was stuck down I used flat black spray paint and I like the small amount of bleed under some of the letters. My favourite part actually! In the workshop I had people use a flat black latex and a roller…this works too. I just wanted to try the spray as well.

The ideas for this style of sign are endless, but I have to give credit to The Simple Kind of Life Blog for the tutorial of how she made an awesome version of her own that inspired me. Thanks Jessica!

If you’re interested in making a sign like this. (Or in a Christmas style/theme) Contact me soon and we’ll get ‘ er done.